let's start at the very beginning
by what a lovely way to burn
Summary: — a very good place to start. first chapter collection. m for safety.
1. chapter one

_**author's notes:** every chapter of this collection is the start of a multi-chap that i may or may not continue because of time and shitty muses._

 _please note that none of these are up for adoption_.

•

 _ **content warning:** homophobia, corrective rape. please do not continue if any of this triggers you or makes you uncomfortable_.

•

 _ **summary:** after hermione accidentally discovers george weasley's most closely-kept secret that not even his twin knows, they grow quite close, and the rumour mill is kept busy with their supposed shenanigans. but another weasley is jealous of their new relationship_...

* * *

Hermione snuck a glance around the corner. Hidden under the Invisibility Cloak, she was unable to be seen, but she had to be careful where she stepped because the corridor stones were uneven and in her hands she held a bowl filled to the brim with pickled Murtlap essence that she'd made for Harry in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

No one was coming, so she made a slow, steady walk for it. As she stepped tentatively along the corridor, she heard raised voices coming from what appeared to be an abandoned classroom. Frowning, she set down the bowl on a stone that seemed to be fairly even and crept forward.

A dim light shone under the door to the classroom, and there was a little window toward the edge. Hermione peered in — and gasped, her hand flying to her mouth to muffle The sound. Neither of the two people inside seemed to have noticed.

She couldn't see their faces in the half-darkness, but — _was that red hair?_

Oh, Merlin.

Hermione pricked her ears up from beneath the Cloak and listened.

"You'll like it," a female voice said. Hermione thought it was supposed to be reassuring, but it sounded like an order. "You'll like it, you freak, and you'll never look the other way again. You hear me?"

There was no reply.

A scuffling, then a deep moan. Hermione flushed bright red; she could feel the colour in her cheeks. She was no stranger to the sounds of sex — she was a Prefect, after all, and that position did not come without its hardships — but it never failed to make her feel embarrassed.

"That's it." The girl sounded breathless. "Mmm, yes. You feel that? That's _pussy,_ Georgie. Not freakishness."

At this, Hermione tensed. This wasn't right. She peered in, squinting and trying to make out where the two were.

Skin slapping on skin.

"Keep going, baby."

There they were. The person who'd spoken was the female. She'd said to keep going, but the guy — _George Weasley?_ — wasn't moving at all; only the one form was in motion, bouncing up and down, head thrown back.

This wasn't consensual. This was rape.

Hermione took a step back in shock and bumped into the Murtlap essence, knocking it over.

 _Fuck_.


	2. chapter two

_**summary:** he wants her; she wants him. they're both too stubborn to give in to their desires. their friends take action._

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"Hermione, guess what!" Ginny burst through the door of her friend's office.

The brunette didn't even look up. "What?" she asked, still scribbling away on her notes.

"Draco Malfoy's back!" Ginny squealed and did a little dance. Hermione's head had snapped up at the sound of her childhood nemesis' name. The redhead whispered behind her hand, "I heard he's even hotter now than he was when he left!"

Hermione's face was oddly blank. "Okay," she replied. "Look, Gin, I'm so sorry — I'm swamped. Meet me at my flat at six; we can have a chat."

Ginny looked a bit put out at having been dismissed, but grinned at her friend and waved as she walked out. "I'll bring wine!" she called over her shoulder.

The door shut behind her.

Hermione immediately dropped her head to her wooden desk with an audible thunk. The pain didn't even really register. Draco Malfoy was back. He was back, and she would be in deep shit if he ever found out.

•

She left early that evening. Her head hurt — and not just because of how hard she'd hit it against her desk. It was a pressure behind her eyes, a throbbing in her temple.

Kingsley let her go with a worried look. It wasn't like Hermione to ask to leave before closing — in fact, he often had to plead with her to quit at the normal time. She looked wan and overworked when she'd stumbled into his office at three in the afternoon. Her eyes took in everything and nothing, her cheeks looked sunken in, and her shoulders slumped in a way that he knew wasn't natural. She had so much energy all the time that he was concerned for her health. Not wanting her to get sick, he gave her permission to go home early.

As Hermione made her way down the corridors of the Ministry, people moved out of her way left and right. She supposed she looked a bit like a zombie — like she wasn't quite all there. She got in the lift with two women and an old man, and rode all the way down in silence. Then she walked outside, breathing the rapidly cooling autumn air in deeply, and spun on the spot and Disapparated.


	3. chapter three

_**summary:** hermione jumps through the veil after sirius and brings back a lot more people than she meant to_.

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 _You are a moron, Hermione Granger!_ berated the brunette witch to herself.

 _Why_ had she jumped through the Veil after Sirius? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was good-looking and she'd crushed hard on him for years. Maybe it was the look of pure anguish on Harry's face. She thought of Harry as the little brother she'd never had. And Hermione would do anything for family.

Now she was probably never going back. As if losing Sirius wasn't enough for one night, now they wuld lose her, too? She couldn't let that happen.

She _wouldn't_ let that happen.

Not to Harry, who deserved none of the life he had. Not to anyone else out there — not Tonks or Ginny or Luna or Neville or Ron. Not Remus. Gods, definitely not Remus. As if the poor man had already suffered enough for a lifetime.

Determined, Hermione tried to move. It felt as though she was floating in the sky; the fog that surrounded her was rather dense and wet — much like clouds. Finally, she found that kicking her legs in an imitation of the butterfly kick, she managed to move. She couldn't see anything, but she heard lots.

 _Help us, Mistress_ , begged one voice.

 _We will serve you faithfully for the rest of eternity_ , cajoled another.

Hermione shook her head to clear it, mentally recited the recipe for Polyjuice, and swam on.

•

"HERMIONE!" yelled Harry, voice hoarse and cracking. "'MIONE!" He turned to the nearest person — Mad-Eye Moody — and grabbed the stern Auror's arm. "Where'd 'Mione go?" he asked frantically.

Moody shook him off with a scowl. "How should I know, boy?"

Harry took off to Dumbledore, Ron at his heels. Ginny stood up but wobbled and sat back down again, face slightly green. Luna stared at the ceiling, a frown tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Sir —"

Dumbledore held up a hand. His face was grave, as was his tone when he spoke. "There will be time for questions later. For now, we must wait."

"But Profe —"

The wizard turned to the young boy at his side. "Harry, I understand how distressed you are at the moment. Please, just wait."

Harry lapsed into silence. The entire room seemed to be holding their breath.

And they waited.

•

Hermione's arms and legs were tired and her entire body felt boneless, but she kept moving.

At last, she saw more than the seemingly never-ending fog. Kicking faster, she popped out from the wet, grey fog into...a meadow? Lush, green grass, blue skies, white clouds. There was a little bubbling brook and —

"Sirius!" she called, relieved. The black-haired man was sitting on a large red and white checkered picnic blanket with several others. He glanced up when she called his name, but his face showed no recognition. "Sirius, it's me! Hermione!"

Sirius blinked, a small frown wrinkle etched on his forehead, and turned back to the other people sat with him, laughing at a joke someone had told. But even though his mouth was moving a mile a minute, no sound was produced.

"He is in Limbo," a voice said softly. Hermione turned, startled, to find a woman standing — floating, rather — beside her. She had beautiful silver hair and laugh lines etched around her mouth.

"Limbo?" questioned Hermione. "As in the Between?"

The woman smiled, and it touched her eyes, making them light up. Hermione realised with a bit of a shock that the woman's eyes were a pure gold. "You have done your homework," she praised. "Yes, the Between. Your Sirius is not ready to move on and be Reborn; he wishes to return to his past life." She glanced at Hermione. "You can take him back, you know."

"I can?"

"Yes. Here," the woman gestured around the meadow, "is a fantasy that only those stuck in Limbo experience. It tells a lot of your ancestors and bloodline that you can see it."

"Me?" Hermione frowned. "But I'm a Muggleborn."

"Being a Muggleborn has nothing to do with it, my dear. Only descendants of Rynn can see Limbo as the meadow. Everyone else who is alive and comes here sees fog."

"I saw fog."

The woman chuckled. "That just means that you're down quite a few generations. The quicker one passes the fog, the closer they are to Rynn."

Hermione's forehead crinkled. "Who is Rynn?" she asked. "I've never heard that name before."

"And that is quite a shock," laughed the woman. "Come. Sit." She patted the seat next to her, and Hermione sat, realising as soon as she did that the seat was made of a cloud. Well, she shrugged, as a witch, she'd seen many other strange things.

"There was once a girl named Karynn. She was disowned by her family — for what reason, no one knows, though it is rumored she was pregnant out of wedlock — she and her younger brother, Arynn, ran away. He became the Master of Life; she, the Mistress of Death. They were treated as gods — the first gods.

"Well, Arynn grew greedy. He wanted both kingdoms for himself, and after he got that, he wanted to go after the mortal world. In other words, he wanted it all.

"He overthrew Karynn, and took over as sole Master of All. His empire grew stronger, and Karynn was forced into hiding. She gave birth to triplets, all girls, whom she named Rynn, Marwynn, and Mavynn." Hermione snorted at the originality and the woman smiled indulgently. "She then left, leaving the kingdom unprotected, and sought help in the outside world. She fell in love and brought her lover back. He died upon setting foot in her kingdom. Mere mortals were not allowed in the Underworld.

"Karynn was, of course, devastated. She had promised to show her lover the delights of her kingdom, but her brother was slowly taking over everything. And so Karynn struck. She gathered an army and led the charge against her brother. In combat, she was mortally wounded, as was Arynn. As their presence in the world grew weaker, she grasped her brother's hand in forgiveness and together they created an entirely new kingdom — a peaceful, neutral one."

"Limbo," guessed Hermione.

The woman nodded. "When Rynn grew up, she ruled Limbo, and her sisters ruled Life and Death."

"So I'm a descendant of Rynn, the Mistress of Limbo?" Hermione's brow wrinkled. "So one of my parents is also a descendant?"

"Yes. Rynn's line only has girls; your mother is my great-great-great-great...well, you get the idea."

Hermione's eyebrows flew up. "Wait. _You're_ my ancestor? You're Rynn?"


	4. chapter four

_**summary:** hermione finds out she was adopted and not really a muggle-born. she also finds out that she has a sister — a twin — and ron and harry don't like her at all._

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"Excuse me — I'm _what_?!" Hermione Granger exclaimed. "That can't possibly be right!" Hermione was in her mother's lawyer's office, and practically hyperventilating.

Justin Blakely, London's best and most famous lawyer, nodded grimly. "I'm afraid it is, Miss Granger. You are adopted."

"But why?" Hermione whispered brokenly with tears in her eyes. "Why did my parents never tell me? Is this why they never showed me my birth certificate?" She started to hyperventilate again. "Was my entire life a lie?"

Justin shook his head fervently. "No, Miss Granger. Your birth parents couldn't keep you for a specific reason, so they gave you to your parents, hoping that living with Muggles would protect you."

Hermione froze. "Muggles?"

"Don't play dumb, Hermione." The sound of her first name shook her out of her shock. "I know you're a witch. Your birth parents were actually members of the Sacred 28. I'm sure you've met their daughter at Hogwarts — your twin sister."

"I have a sister?" Hermione could barely believe her ears. Her mother's lawyer knew about magic, she was adopted, her birth parents were Purebloods — apparently some of the most ancient Pureblood families in the Wizarding world — _and_ she had a twin. A sister. She'd always wanted a sister. Her parents had claimed that they weren't capable of having anymore kids, but now Hermione wondered whether they'd been able to have a kid in the first place.

She shook her head to try to clear it (unsuccessfully, at that). "How did I never know you knew about the Wizarding world?"

"I never knew that you were a witch, either," Justin replied. "Your mother saw my wand when she was re-writing her will and told me. I was shocked, to say the least. What House are you in?"

Hermione smiled. "I'm a Gryffindor," she said. "What about you?"

"Ravenclaw," he said. "When I found out, I assumed that you would be, too. You always struck me as the intellectual type. You were the brains of the so-called 'Golden Trio', correct?"

"That's right," Hermione sighed. "Believe me, it was very annoying trying to keep Ron and Harry in line."

"Well," mused Justin, "I hope they don't mind Slytherins — your sister's one."


End file.
